Tim Skubick: Take this quiz and see if you fare better than the leaders of tomorrow

Who is this woman? If you can name her, you're doing better than many Michigan citizens.MLive File Photo

Take out a pencil and a piece of paper.

Even if you are over the hill, just the thought of that command should bring back chilling memories of being in high school. The last thing you wanted to do was take a quiz.

So imagine the anxiety in the room when 300 young women attending the American Legion's Girl State were told to do just that. Remember they had just finished high school final exams and they thought they were done with that for awhile.

Not quite.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Girl's State program, these Juniors are picked by their teachers to attend an intense one-week crash course on how the democracy is suppose to work. They are the creme-da-la-creme, the leaders of tomorrow hoping to add this to their college resume next year.

So much for being the cream of the crop.

The paper and pencils came out and the quiz turned out to be just four questions ... three of which they struggled to answer.

They were instructed to name the Secretary of State, the State Attorney General, the Lt. Governor and then list the top pitcher for the Detroit Tigers.

A hush fell over the room as the enormity of the assignment smacked them in the face. Remember these are students who supposedly already knew something about state government.

How many knew Ruth Johnson was Secretary of State, the not-so-smiling faces in the audience were asked? Maybe 25 hands went up. What about Attorney General Bill Schuette? Three hands. That's not a misprint; three hands out of 300. The moderator joked they must have been relatives of Mr. Schuette. No one laughed.

A harsh reality was sinking in. They were flunking the quiz.

But they came alive when, finally, they got one right: Justin Verlander. Smiles were everywhere. These high achievers knew him and seemed relieved to prove they got that one right.

However this was not a sports clinic they were attending.

Turns out these young persons are not alone. The average older citizen would flunk this test, too.

Instead of debating the merits of teaching Algebra II, somebody ought to think about teaching our kids something about government. The vibrancy of our precious democracy depends more on that than the square root of Pi.

Watch "Off the Record with Tim Skubick" online anytime at video.wkar.org